The Max adaptation of John Green’s 2017 novel ably handles the interior struggles of Ocd, if not the threads of its plot

For better and for worse, John Green’s young adult worlds tend toward the dramatic and expansive – big swings, big emotions, big mysteries and dreams. And always, the specter of death – of parents, friends or the protagonists themselves (the cancer romance turned tearjerker hit The Fault in Our Stars). Turtles All the Way Down, the writer’s 2017 novel, turns the drama more inward: its protagonist, a high-schooler named Aza Holmes, struggles with derailing thought spirals from obsessive compulsive disorder, partially inspired by the author’s own experience.

Such an alienating internal experience is the type of characterization that could be difficult to translate to screen, both for relatability and for the action – what to do with a romance when one half is too deathly afraid of bacteria to kiss?...